March 31, 2018. March blows Spring into Central Texas – bringing wildflowers and fresh leaves. And in the garden, poppies! We planted seeds once and now we collect seeds to give away – our poppies keep popping back year to year. They are a mix of red and pink, big and small, and they are prolific. But each bloom is brief. And each worthy a portrait, my excuse to frequently indulge my photography urges.

I lucked onto one “about to pop” and caught the sequence. Apart from borders and the stand-in downward bud, all images are of the same poppy. All but the full bloom, in the span of about 5 minutes. The fully opened bloom is an hour or so later.

March 12, 2016. After too long without rain, when it finally began falling a sense of elation rose. Ground like a sponge, and it seemed the trees were plumping up. I find it hard to stay indoors during such elemental transition, and our Labrador easily persuaded me, ushered me to the back porch, covered but letting damp air gently blow through. I stood out there until the rain let up enough for a few pics of dripping-wet poppies. The image below is a collage of poppies – each poppy a collage of raindrops.